Invista announces further nylon 6,6 capacity expansion

Mark Lane | 13th September 2018

SHANGHAI – Chemical intermediates, polymers and fibres business, Invista, has announced plans to add 40,000 tons of nylon 6,6 polymer capacity at its current 150,000-ton polymer plant at the Shanghai Chemical Industry Park in China. Construction is targeted for mid-2019 and production is set to begin in 2020. The project arrives at a time of significant expansion for the US-based business.

Invista’s has made several other recent announcements regarding additional capacity in the nylon 6,6 value chain. These include a new adiponitrile (ADN) plant announced for China by 2023 as well as additional ADN capacity resulting from retrofits of Invista’s latest ADN technology at Butachimie, Invista’s joint venture with Belgium chemical company Solvay in France in 2019. ADN expansion is also a theme at Invista’s plant in Victoria, Texas, where additional capacity will be introduced by 2020, while ADN production records are being hit at Invista’s site in Orange, Texas.

Adiponitrile, an organic compound, is an important precursor to the polymer nylon-6,6.

“We are continuing to make strategic investments to best meet our customers’ needs,” said Pete Brown, Invista vice president of nylon polymer. “In looking at our forecast for the future growth of the nylon 6,6 polymer market, we see increased demand in Asia and are expanding our capacity to meet that demand.”

He added, “We’ve invested more than US$1bn in the nylon 6,6 value chain in the past five years, have recently committed to investing US$1bn more and are continuing to evaluate the market for additional opportunities in the future.”

With leading brands including Lycra, Coolmax and Cordura, Invista is one of the world’s largest integrated producers of chemical intermediates, polymers and fibre. The company’s technologies for nylon, spandex and polyester are used to produce clothing, carpet, air bags and countless other everyday products.